According to a new report, the software that Google uses on their Pixel smartphones was first developed for the Google Glass.
The Google Pixel and Pixel XL have amazing cameras, but a lot of it is because of the software. The camera on the Pixel is currently the highest rated smartphone camera on DxOMark. It performs outstandingly well during the day, and great in low-light as well.
Read: Google Pixel 2 will remain expensive
Yes, the 12.3 megapixel sensor is brilliant, but so is the software magic that happens behind it. And to learn that this software was first used for the camera on the Google Glass, is something. The software, known as Gcam, began in 2011 under the X Division at Alphabet.
The team had to build a camera sensor that would be small, but wouldn’t sacrifice quality. It had to be as good as the sensors on smartphones. To make things easier, the team started the Gcam software project to help the hardware perform better. The software learnt how to take several shots, fuse them together and provide a high quality photo as a result.
After using the software in the Google Glass, the team used it in the Nexus 5 and 6, calling it HDR+. Now, the Pixel smartphones have the Gcam HDR+ feature as a default mode in the camera app. And that’s what makes the images look so good.
In the future, the tech could also be used to improve white balance and image background, or reduce blur. We could see some of these features and an overall improved camera in the Pixel 2 smartphones. There’s still a long way to go though.
via 9to5Google
